Two gay and two lesbian couples stood together in front of a crowd of about 700 friends, family and supporters to vow to love and honor each other for the rest of their lives at the Pride Commitment Ceremony today.

The ceremony, held at 1 p.m. in HUB Alumni Hall, marked the first event of Pride Week and was sponsored by the Coalition of LGBTA Graduate Students. Pride Week, which is from March 29 through April 5, is an annual celebration of pride and acceptance for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its allies (LGBTA) at Penn State.

The four couples, who were dressed in wedding attire, walked together from Boucke Building to the HUB-Robeson Center as Silent Witness PA volunteers formed a line of support and acceptance around them with rainbow umbrellas.

"It was really cool to see the Silent Witnesses. They made a line and as we walked through they were all saying congratulations," said Amanda Applegate, who committed herself today to partner Donna Coffman, a Penn State research associate.

Tom Koerber, president of the Coalition of LGBTA Graduate Students welcomed guests and announced the speakers, State College Mayor Bill Welch and Chairman of the PA Human Relations Commission Steve Glassman.

Welch presided over the ceremony and guided the couples as they exchanged their personally written vows.

"It couldn't have gone better. No glitches as far as I know of," Welch said.

The crowd was supportive and cheered as the couples kissed on-stage and Glassman pronounced them committed to each other. Kat Sinclair (graduate-human development and family studies), who committed to Delia Guzman (senior-crime, law and justice), later said she was happy to see such support instead of a room full of protesters.

"It's been great. I've seen a ton of my students and a ton of my department. My fear was that I would walk into a room of protesters, but it was so welcoming," Sinclair said.

Following the ceremony, Koerber invited everyone to attend the reception, which was also held in Alumni Hall.

By the time the ceremony was over, a rally for family values had begun at Old Main. The rally was organized by the Pennsylvania Family Values Coalition.

Koerber said he was pleased with the turnout for the ceremony.

"I think it went fantastic. The room was packed and the opposition was almost non-existent. I'm absolutely glad we did it," Koerber said.